Impacts of climate change and extreme weather events on critical infrastructure: state of the art review and taxonomy of existing knowledge

Modern critical infrastructures such as telecommunication networks, electric power generation and transmission, water supply systems, transportation, and emergency services are now the components of a larger interconnected system. A disruption in one infrastructure can thus have ripple effects onto other infrastructures with impacts on communities and the broader economy. Climate related hazards, such as extreme weather events, have the potential to substantially affect the lifespan and the effectiveness of critical infrastructures and can even result in their destruction.

This report provides an extensive assessment of the impacts from climate hazards and extreme weather on critical infrastructures. For each CI sector a review of climate change and its impacts has been performed. In particular, the potential consequences and impacts of climate phenomena such as temperature, extreme winds, floods, wild fires, etc. are presented. In addition, for each sector, an overview of relevant risk assessment methodologies, resilience strategies as well as a climate change adaptation frameworks applied to date is also provided.